Japanese are Prejudice?

05/06/2016 15:19

Having
been in Japan for 9 months now, I have come to realize the many prejudices
Japan holds over the rest of the world.Most, if not all, of them are pretty negative.Let’s start off by talking about each different
type of prejudice you will encounter during your stay in Japan.

The
western lover

Ok,
so maybe this one isn’t so much as a prejudice, as something that is rather
noticeable and sometimes quite annoying. Much like (whom I like to call)
junkies in America, these people are obsessed with all things western.They don’t care if you are from America or
England, they just want to know any all things that they can about western
culture.They will also tell you all
things that you are wrong about with it comes to your own culture.I once had a person tell me that there are no
sushi restaurants in Arizona, and that Halloween is a Christian holiday.There are many others but these ones bothered
me the most.No matter how many times I
tried to correct them, they insisted that they knew my culture better than me.

The
sympathy speaker

These
people annoy me to no end. I appreciate
that they are being mindful of my language limitations, but they don’t need to
be THAT mindful.Just maybe change what
you say if I don’t understand a particular word or phrase.These people talk extra slow, pausing after
every word, and even increase their volume when speaking.Why?Is all of that really necessary?One person wanted to ask me how long I had lived in Japan.It felt like it was taking 5 minutes just to
hear the question.“Jeny wa, pause pause
pause, donna gurai, pause pause pause pause, nihon ni, pause pause pause,
sunde, pause pause…” “9 MONTHS!9MONTHS!!I have been in Japan 9 freaking months!!”Is what I want to scream at them.I just patiently wait for them to
finish.Letting the angered expression
sit on my face, so they know that I am offended, and politely answer their
question at a normal pace.They,
however, will forever refuse to hear my Japanese comprehension level.

The eager-beaver

These
people have it in their heads, that any white person they see, speaks English,
and ONLY English, and they happen to be learning English.So they will run up to you and proudly use
whatever phrases they have memorized that day.It is funny at times, but having watched some people get embarrassed,
they need to lose this assumption.Not
every gaijin that visits Japan speaks English.I have seen many gaijin come to Japan not speak English.They maybe know just as much as Japanese
do.Assuming that every white person you
see speaks fluent English, is just dumb.When I studied abroad 3 years ago, I met some people from Europe who
didn’t hardly know English.The only
language we had in common was Japanese.There
are also a high number of half Japanese citizens, that may look like they are
American, but have been born and raised in Japan and speak absolutely no
English.So while it is great that you
want to practice your English skills, why not first ask them if they speak
English, before blindly speaking to them, and save the embarrassment.

The denier

These
people get on my nerves the most. I cannot tell you how many times I have been
refused service because Japanese refuse to believe that I am speaking to them
in English.Usually, I just let it go
and move on, but this past week, while visiting Kusatsu, I was pushed over the
edge.Kusatsu is world famous.World famous locations employ people, whose
only job is to provide information to foreigners.They have people who speak: Korean, Chinese,
Vietnamese, English, and other languages.So how does it make sense, to refuse service to someone, just because
you think they don’t know Japanese?It
doesn’t make sense to me.

Story
time tangent.

When
we arrived in Kusatsu, we knew what we wanted to do, but didn’t know how to get
there.They had pamphlets in many
different languages, but English was not one of them.I asked for a bus schedule, and they hand me
one in Japanese, listing only the stops.As if, visitors know where exactly those particular stops are without
also consulting a map.Anyway, we
politely asked the information lady that speaks English how to get to where we
wanted to go, and she gave us the information.Even writing it down.So we
waited for our bus.And waited.And waited.And waited some more.But the bus
never came.So I went back down to
information and asked her what was up, she said to talk to the ticket
counter.So I did.And oh my goodness was this guy rude.I walk up to the counter holding my paper with
the stop name on it so I knew what to ask for, and he just rips it out of my
hand and starts talking very loudly and slowly in horribly broken English what
I “wanted” to know.I didn’t want to
know what he was telling me, because what he was telling me was nonsense.I told him in Japanese, that I was trying to
get to Mt. Shirane and I guess all he heard was “help me I’m a lost gaijin” or
something because he kept cutting me off and not letting me finish.He hands me 2 tickets and says to pay him,
and I had no idea what I was paying for, all I wanted to know was when the bus was
arriving.I tried to talk to him again
in Japanese and all he heard was “English English English English.”Somehow, I was able to get the right bus
tickets from him for both me and my husband, but my afternoon was just ruined
by his rudeness.

Another
time, during that same trip, we were buying food from a combini.During the check out, I was waiting for them
to ask whether we wanted the food warmed up but he just pointed to the price,
not saying a word, and threw the bag of food at us, then shoved us to the side
to make room for the next customer.My
husband was about ready to walk outside with his cold food, but I was not
having any of it.I stepped back where I
was and insisted that he heat up our food and give us chopsticks to eat it
with, in Japanese.Red faced, he takes
our food and warms it up for us.

Last
one, I promise.We were wanting to go to
an onsen and as I walk in, the guy was scrambling to prepare an English
translation of everything.I didn’t need
it because asking for 2 adults and 2 towels is super easy so I just said that
in Japanese.He, I guess, didn’t hear
the Japanese part.He kept pointing and
pointing at different parts of their sign in English, and asking if I wanted
one or the other.I politely told him
again, in Japanese, what I wanted, but he kept pointing to the English sign he
was holding.I never spoke English once,
and just pointed to what I wanted while also saying it in Japanese.Needless to say, that day was the worst day I
have had in Japan.

The
obligator

This
person believes that no one knows Japanese except Japanese, and it is near
impossible to learn unless you are Japanese. So when you do happen to say “arigato” they
will compliment you as if you are an angel who just fell from heaven.After the showering of compliments, you will
get asked how long you have been in Japan.When I tell them how many months, they freak out and just go crazy with
compliments.For some reason, they don’t
understand that you can learn Japanese in other parts of the word without
having to be in Japan.I have to explain
to them every time that I have been learning Japanese for 5 years and they just
loose it.They cannot contain their
excitement in the fact that I know Japanese.It was nice at first, but now it is just annoying and they come across
as extremely ignorant.Strangely enough,
it is the older generations that do this the most.The younger ones, tend to just look surprised
that I speak Japanese, but say nothing on how long I have lived in Japan or how
long I have been studying it.They just
proceed to ask where I am from and what Arizona is like.The older people, seem to believe that Japan
is in a bubble, and the rest of the world has no idea that Japan exists.I guess they need to watch the news more.

The gaijin
hater

Finally,
you have the hater of all gaijin. This
person will be super rude to you.He
will purposefully speak Japanese extra fast, saying difficult words and phrases
to try and confuse you or hurt you.They
hate that any gaijin would come to Japan at all, and they believe it is ruining
their lives.They are the ones that will
say rude and racist things in your presence, mostly believing that you don’t
know what they are saying.You can
easily put them in their place by just telling them you speak Japanese, but
there are times when they intend to hurt you so that you will leave and never
come back.This hasn’t happened to me
that much in Gunma as it had in Tokyo.This is more likely because Gunma is the least visited prefecture in
Japan.

When
thinking about why Japanese act this way, I believe it is because of the other
gaijin who have come before me.After
traveling during golden week, I have come to realize where we get our person
prejudices from.JD and I witnessed
several instances of Asian gaijin (Chinese, Vietnamese, Philippian) being just
the rudest people we have ever seen.They were insane!We were heading
to an empty table with food on our tray ready to sit and eat, but a Vietnamese
person ran to the table and removed the chairs from us and just sat down.She didn’t just happen to get there before
us, she literally ran to the table.Another time, while we were shopping in a store, they were just pushing
and shoving people out of the way and cutting other people in line.Then on their way home as they boarded the
train, they literally ran and shoved people out of their way so they could have
a seat.I get that in China or Vietnam
they have to act that way to get things done, but it isn’t like that in
Japan.

I
have worked with people from all over the world, and have built up many
stereotypes and prejudices as a result of meeting these people.We need to remember, that how we act, is not
only a reflection of our own culture, but other cultures as well.What I mean by this, looking at several white
people, how can you tell if they are from Poland, Canada, or America?You can’t.Same with seeing a person from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, or India. You can’t
tell the difference based on looks alone.We need to be aware of how we act around other people.Of course not all Chinese people are rude and
maniacal, but almost all of the Chinese people I have met/worked with are.Of course not all people from Arab countries
are angry and selfish, but most of the ones I have been are.

I
never realized I held prejudice against Mexicans, until I had students from
Mexico.All the Mexicans I have ever
worked with or met before, were so selfish, rude, and thieves.They had no respect for anything.They expected Americans to cater to them and
speak Spanish, even though I heard them speaking English to each other right
before they started speaking to me.The
students I had from Mexico, were completely opposite of that.These students were the nicest and most
polite people I have ever met.They were
kind to each other, and even apologized for other Mexicans and their behavior
in Arizona.These students were so happy
to be speaking English, and really wanted to learn about American culture. They showed me, that prejudice, just only
closes doors for you.They also taught
me, that we reflect other cultures.Try
and keep this in mind the next time you travel or meet someone from another
country.I am guilty of doing some of
these things I listed myself, but being aware of it, is the only way we can
change and make things better.